A New Life
by hollie-whyte
Summary: Hermione is unceremoniously dumped into the past with no idea how she got there or who she can trust. She must find a way to build a new life there, while trying to find her way home.
1. Chapter 1

Harry and Ron could hear Hermione screaming as Bellatrix treated her to another round of the cruciatus curse, when the curse was finally lifted the screaming was replaced by Hermione's pleading with the Deatheater and her promises and assurances that they had never been to her Gringott's Vault, much less taken anything from it. She even made claims that the sword they'd been discovered with was a fake.

"We have to do something, Harry. She'll kill her if we don't stop her soon!"

"Do you think I don't know that, Ron? But what can we do? We're down stuck down here with no wands. Why don't you try and think of some way to save her?"

"Harry?" Harry sighed and turned to look at the girl,

"What is it Luna?"

"They're sending someone down to get Mr. Griphook to check the sword. I thought maybe you-"

"We could ambush them when they open the door! They'd never be expecting that!" Ron had an excited look on his face but Harry glared at him,

"They'd never be expecting it because they've realised that even we are not that stupid. That's a terrible idea!" Harry turned to the goblin, "You have to tell them the sword is a fake! They'll kill her if they know it's the real one. Please." They didn't know what the goblin had decided to do when Pettigrew dragged him back up the stairs, they were going to have to just wait and hope he was on their side.

~#~

Up in the drawing room Hermione was panicking, the Deatheaters were about to find out that she'd been lying to them; how was she to know they happened to have a goblin locked away in the cellar? There wasn't anything she could to but brace herself for the inevitable pain that was surely going to be coming in a matter of minutes. She heard Bellatrix say something at the other end of the room, there was a squeaky reply which she didn't hear properly; all she could hear was her heart beating wildly in her chest and the blood rushing in her ears. Suddenly the roaring in her ears stopped and she was alone in the room and the fire was lit but before she could even begin to comprehend what had just happened she lost consciousness.

The boys in the cellar stopped their feverish whispers as the noise from the room above them ceased, there were a few beats of absolute silence before they heard Bellatrix's booming voice "Where is she?" Harry's head snapped around to stare at the others in the room; surely he hadn't heard correctly but they all looked just as perplexed as he felt, before any of them could speak Bellatrix shouted again, "Where did she go? How did she escape?"

There was a lot of movement above them as the Deatheaters tired to find Hermione; it had been decided that she couldn't have moved past any of the wards as no alarms had sounded and she couldn't have apparated away from the manor as you needed to be outside of the wards. While the Deatheaters gathered in the drawing room spread out throughout the house to find the girl, back in the cellar Luna had pointed out to Harry that he was standing in a puddle, warning him about some water dwelling creature her father had just published an article about.

By the light of the deluminator they realised that it was blood. Harry smacked a hand to his forehead, "How could I forget about Sirius' mirror?! I've been seeing that eye in it all this time, whoever it is could send help!" Ron grinned at him and motioned for him to be quick. Once Harry had given their location the two boys crowded back to the door so they could hear what was happening upstairs better.

~#~

"It appears our young Miss Granger is a lot more capable than we gave her credit for, I can't detect her anywhere in the Malfoy grounds; she must have slipped through the wards somehow. What's most impressive is it's almost like she were never here to begin with, there is a no trace of her whatsoever." After Bellatrix's first shout Snape had crouched where the girl had been and started performing all sorts of complicated looking charms in order to discover where she had gone, but he hadn't had any luck and would soon need to depart to get back to Hogwarts before he was missed. Bellatrix glared at the man,

"The mudblood does not deserve any credit. When we find her, and we will, I will kill her for attempting to make a fool of me!"

"It seems that she has succeeded in that quest. Just be grateful your sister had the idea to question the goblin before sending for the Dark Lord. That could have been disastrous." Bellatrix stalked towards him,

"We still have _Potter_; he is who really matters after all."

~#~

When they'd first heard Snape's voice in the hall above them they'd both been ready to pull the heavy door off its hinges to get to him, but they had shared a grin when he said Hermione has escaped the wards. "That's our Hermione! Now we just have to worry about getting ourselves and Griphook out of here."

"Griphook? Why would we bother with him? He would have gotten her killed!"

"I think we're going to need him." A loud crack filled the air and Harry spun around to face the room, his hand automatically flying to the pocket which usually held his wand, "Dobby? What're you doing here?" Harry sounded a little incredulous to see the house elf standing before him, "Wait, can you apparate here?" Dobby nodded enthusiastically,

"Elf magic is different to wizard magic." Harry nodded grinning,

Dobby get those three out of here and come back for Ron and me." Dobby bowed and took Luna and Mr. Ollivander's hands and motioned for Dean to take Luna's other hand. The elf looked like he was just about to leave when Ron blurted out,

"Take them to Shell Cottage in Cornwall. They'll be safe there." Dobby nodded once more and the three were gone the next second. Harry looked more worried that excited; how were they going to manage to get Griphook and out of the Manor alive, with no wands?

~#~

There wasn't much time to think before Dobby was back with another loud crack, Harry's eyes narrowed; "Can you do that without the noise?"

"Oh, yes Harry Potter, when Dobby worked for the Malfoy family he never made a sound." Harry nodded looking thoughtful,

"Would you be able to go upstairs silently to see how many are up there? It'll be handy to know what we're up against." Dobby was gone and Harry smiled, "that's handy." Ron nodded his agreement with another grin.

When Dobby returned he looked pleased with himself, "Only the man with the silver hand and Dobby's old young master are there."

"The rest must be searching the house for Hermione. Did either of them see you?" Dobby shook his head, his ears flapping,

"Dobby made sure no one saw."

"Good, take us up there, as close to a wand as you can." Dobby nodded and took their hands.

~#~

They appeared silently behind Draco, who was standing guard over Griphook with his wand held loosely in his hand; Pettigrew was standing at the top of the cellar stairs guarding the door. Harry grabbed the wand out of Draco's hand and had stunned him before he had even turned around.

Pettigrew was startled by the sound of Draco's body slumping to the floor and his eyes widened when he saw Harry step towards him with a wand in his hand. "H- Harry, my dear boy. Your parents wouldn't want you to hurt me." Harry saw Pettigrew's wand inching towards his left forearm, where the dark mark was poking out of his shirtsleeves.

"I don't think so Peter. You owe me a life debt; you wouldn't want to be calling Tom tonight. Accio wands." Hermione and Ron's wands sped into his hand, along with the Pettigrew's and the one Ron had taken from the snatchers before he found them. It was good to have the spare, even if Draco's wand did seem to be working a lot better for him that the other had. Pettigrew seemed to be struggling to press a finger to his mark; his hand didn't seem to be cooperating with his wishes and was soon wrapped around his neck.

Harry turned away, not wanting to witness whatever was about to take place, but unwilling to stop it from happening. He joined Dobby and Ron over where Griphook was laying prone on the ground, picking up the sword along the way. "Let them know we're leaving Dobby, nice and loud." The crack they disappeared with was loud enough that it seemed to shake the walls of the manor.

~#~

Bellatrix, Lucius and Narcissa all abandoned their searches and ran full-speed back to the hall to find Draco on the floor in a heap, Pettigrew being choked by his own hand and the goblin and the sword both gone. Narcissa went straight to Draco and cast a quick enervate and thanked Merlin when his eyes fluttered open straight away, with a slightly sheepish look on his face. His aunt stooped down in front of him with her face close to his, "What happened here Draco?" her voice was unnaturally and unnervingly calm and he knew that was probably dangerous.

"I don't know, I was guarding the goblin and someone came up behind me, took my wand and stunned me. I didn't see anything though. It must have been Granger, maybe she just disillusioned herself and waiting until you were all gone. She's always been too smart for her own good! But now she's stuck here somewhere and we'll find her! Filthy little mudblood!"

Lucius had managed to stop the silver hand from killing Pettigrew, but only by casting a body bind and prising it away from the man's neck; he was almost certain that as soon as the spell was lifted the hand would continue. "His only chance is to keep him frozen until the Dark Lord comes, maybe he'll save his pet rat." Bellatrix stalked over to the two men,

"Mobilise his mouth, maybe he saw what happened here." Lucius did as his sister-in-law told him and Pettigrew took a few gasping breaths, filling his lungs with air again, "So Pettigrew, tell us what happened."

"Potter appeared out of nowhere and got Draco's wand, he was standing over the boy about to kill him so I tried to call the Dark Lord but he did something to my hand and disapparated with the Weasley boy, the goblin and the fake sword."

"The fake sword we never actually confirmed was a fake?!" Narcissa had started to speak at the same time as her sister,

"Why did you not do anything to stop the boy yourself, even if you had managed to call the Dark Lord he would never have gotten here in time before the boy disapparated. Draco could have been killed!" Bellatrix glared at her sister, clearly having more on her mind than the life of her only nephew. Narcissa could see that the rage building in her sister would soon become dangerous to her family if something wasn't done about it but bringing the Dark Lord would only make matters worse now that their prisoners had escaped. There was nothing she could do so she just looked down to the floor and didn't say another word as Bellatrix rounded on Pettigrew again.

~#~

Ron's brother Bill met them at the door to Shell Cottage, "I must say, I was expecting at least one of you to be injured."

"How are the others; we didn't really get to talk to them."

"Ollivander is exhausted, dehydrated and needs a good meal but other than that everyone's fine. Where's Hermione, she isn't..?"

"No, she got away somehow, before we did. She disappeared when they started to question Griphook. Snape said it was like she'd never even been there." Bill's eyebrows rose at the mention of Snape, and the excitement in his brother's voice while talking about his best friend being missing. The two younger boys told him the story with so much pride in their voices and grins on their faces that Bill couldn't find it in him to bring them down, Fleur didn't have such an issue as she listened with a frown on her pretty face,

"But where is Hermione now? How will she know where to find you? She does not know about this place." Harry's face dropped and his eyes widened; he'd never even thought of that.

"She'll think we're still at Malfoy Manor, what if she goes back there for us? They'll kill her for escaping, if not just because we managed to. She's already been under the cruciatus curse for so long. We have to find her!"

~#~

Dobby gasped as he entered the drawing room to light the fire; there was a girl sleeping in the middle of the room. He went as close to her as he dared, his master was away from the manor and the mistress hadn't told him that any guests were expected, not that they would have a guest sleep on the floor of the drawing room. He didn't know what to do, he wavered next to her for a few minutes before he made the decision to go and get the mistress. He appeared silently outside Narcissa's bedchamber and knocked before entering; she had already been woken by one of the female elves and was sitting up in her bed reading.

She looked up when the door opened and was surprised to see Dobby standing at the foot of her bed, he wasn't meant to be in this part of the house, "What is it? You know you are not supposed to be here." Dobby caught hold of one of his ears and tugged on it,

"Dobby is sorry, Mistress Malfoy but there is something he needs to tell you."

"Well, get on with it then."

"There is a girl- in the drawing room. Dobby thinks she is sleeping." Narcissa had set her book to one side and was getting out of bed,

"What do you mean? How could there possibly be a girl in the drawing room? We have wards on the house and grounds. Take me there." She placed her hand on the elf's shoulder and he apparated them back downstairs.

~#~

Narcissa gaped when she saw that Dobby had indeed found a girl asleep on the drawing room floor. She sank down next to the girl's head and waved her wand over the girl doing a simple diagnostic charm. "Go to Hogwarts and fetch Professor Snape, she's going to need a few potions in order for her to heal properly. I believe she has been put under the cruciatus curse for some length of time." Dobby nodded and disappeared straight away, returning minutes later with a disgruntled and slightly bleary looking Severus Snape."

"I do not appreciate being woken by house elves at this hour on a Saturday Narcissa. Your elf told me I was needed along with an array of healing potions, what's the matter?"

"This girl was found this morning, I believe she has been tortured."

"And you brought her here?" Narcissa shook her head,

"No, Severus, she was found here."

"A pretty young girl has been tortured and left in your drawing room, yet you sent for me rather than asking your husband about it." Narcissa pursed her lips into a tight line,

"I do not like what you are implying Severus, but in any case Lucius is out of the country this week so she in nothing to do with him. Now if you please, I do think this girl needs some help." Severus rolled his eyes and knelt down on the other side of the girl to Narcissa, repeating the wand movements she had made earlier before making a few more complicated ones.

"I think you are correct Narcissa, but there doesn't seem to be any lasting damage; all she needs is rest, to give her body time to heal. I would suggest you move her to a bed in one of the more remote room of the manor and I will question her when she awakes. If you will permit me to stay until then? I would not feel comfortable leaving you and Draco here alone with her until we know who she is and how she got past the wards." Narcissa's eyes widened as she looked from Severus to the girl as if it hadn't even occurred to her that she might be dangerous. Severus barely managed to refrain from rolling his eyes at the woman but Narcissa didn't notice.

"Dobby, take the girl and do as Professor Snape has said. Stay with her until she wakes and come and get us when she does." Dobby nodded and disappeared with the girl, Narcissa turned to Severus again, "Would you like some breakfast while you're here? You'll have missed it at the castle by now." Severus nodded and followed her to the dining room.

Upstairs Dobby was fussing over tucking the girl into the bed, he was worried about what reaction she would have when she woke up and decided she should at least be comfortable, and securely tucked under the sheets, just in case of a bad reaction to her surroundings.


	2. Chapter 2

Remus sighed again and dragged his hands down his face, "There is nothing we can do, Harry. We cannot afford to simply raid Malfoy Manor and hope to find Hermione there." He raised a hand to stop Harry from interrupting him, "You said it yourself that Snape could find no trace of her in the manor, if he could not find trace of her ever having been there what makes you think she would be there now?"

"What if Snape was lying?" Ron burst into the conversation,

"Why in the world would Severus do that?"

"Maybe he was trying to get them out of the room to give us a chance to escape." Ron said with a shrug, he looked doubtful but he was trying his best to stay positive about the situation, even if that meant laying his trust in Severus Snape.

"So you're telling me that you really think Hermione has just been roaming free around Malfoy Manor all day?" Ron slammed his hand down on the table and glared at Fleur for her input, he opened his mouth to let his anger out on her when he caught Bill's eye and took a deep breath before speaking,

"No, I don't believe that. But I need to believe she is still there and she is safe and that we can rescue her. Malfoy didn't tell them it was Harry, maybe he's helping her; hiding her." He turned to Remus and the older man saw how much this was affecting him, "I know that we can't raid Malfoy Manor, we don't have the numbers or the resources to attack but we have to do something. Every minute she isn't with us is another minute she could be under Bellatrix's wand, if not You-Know-Who's."

~#~

Dobby jumped up onto the foot of the bed as he heard the girl starting to stir. Her eyes blinked open and she tried to put a hand up to her head, only to find that her arms were stuck by her sides under the covers of the bed Dobby had placed her in. The elf shifted into her line of sight and her eyes opened wide, "Dobby? Where am I? What's going on?" Dobby whimpered and tugged on his ear before disappearing to fetch Narcissa and Severus.

~#~

Dobby appeared back in the room while Hermione was struggling to get her arms free from the bedding she'd been rather securely tucked into; she started to level a glare at the elf before her eyes widened at the sight of Severus Snape standing with a hand on the elf's shoulder. "What are you doing here?" She started to wriggle more violently, even more desperate to escape from the bed; she had to be able to defend herself.

"Lie still you foolish child. You have been the victim of torture; I do not yet know how extensive the damage is." Hermione's struggles didn't stop; if anything the reminder of her torture only intensified her movements,

"How could you not know the extent of the torture, you were there! You watched her do it and didn't lift a finger to stop her!"

"I do not know what you are talking about; I have never set eyes on you in my life. Now if you refuse to lie still I will have to immobilise you." A look of pure confusion crossed Hermione's face but she did stop trying to escape from the sheets, "Now, I need to examine you in order to determine which potions would be best suited to healing you. For this I will need to release you from the sheets, will you agree to behave or will I have to immobilise you after all?"

"I won't try to get away." Hermione muttered, she didn't understand what was happening, how could Snape, who had been her professor for six years of her life just not remember her. She tried to think of a solution while Snape waved his wand over her doing a series of diagnostic charms, the only thing she managed to come up with was that she had been disfigured somehow and she was now unrecognisable. Suddenly something occurred to Hermione, "Why did Dobby get you instead of… well anyone else?" Snape ignored the question,

"It does not appear that there will be any lasting damage, however, I would advise you to take this potion for any muscle or joint pain caused by the curse. Sit up." Hermione frowned at the lack of an answer but she obeyed him anyway, not quite sure if it was because she was nervous of him after the previous night's events or just out of habit; she was used to obeying him in the potions classroom.

He handed her a potion, which looked like the pain potion he had mentioned, she gave it a sniff to confirm and check if there was anything wrong with it, she didn't detect anything and narrowed her eyes at the amused looking professor before gulping the potion down in one. "Wise to check but I assure you I am more than capable of adjusting a potion into something quite deadly without leaving telltale scents or obvious colour changes. Now, we need to have a little chat."

~#~

"If we are going to be able to do anything for Hermione we need to alert the rest of the order that there is a problem." Harry shook his head,

"No one can know we're here. They'll try to make me and Ron stay here. We need to get Hermione and get back to our task; there is still a lot that needs to be done and I'm not sure how much longer we have to spend on it. I did ask Bill not to contact anyone." Harry sent a glare at Ron's brother, not happy that Bill had gone against his wishes,

"I didn't contact Remus, Harry. He was as surprised to see you as you were to see him, I promise."

"He isn't lying to you Harry; I came here to share some news with Bill and Fleur. I guess the surprise of seeing you here put my reason for visiting out of my head." A soft smiled washed across Remus' face,

"What was your news Professor Lupin?" Remus looked at Luna with a smile,

"Call me Remus; I haven't been anyone's professor in years. Nymphadora had the baby; we have decided to name him Edward, for Dora's father." Remus turned to Harry amid the congratulations coming from all sides, "We would like for you to be his Godfather."

"Me? Are you sure?" Remus beamed at him,

"Of course, Dora agrees that there is nobody better."

"Well in that case, I'd be honoured Remus."

"Blimey Remus, you'd best get back to her! You've been here almost two hours already. She'll think you've run off." Harry looked awkwardly at Remus,

"I wanted to apologise for what I said at Grimmauld Place, I didn't mean it." Remus smiled,

"Yes you did Harry, but I needed to hear all of it. Ron is right though, I should get back. Don't do anything drastic, I'll be back soon and we'll figure out how to get Hermione back."

"Tell Dora congratulations for me, and say hello to my Godson."

~#~

"I suppose a good place to start would be with your name." Hermione panicked, they had found out her name the night before and that had not gone too well, but this was Professor Snape; he already knew her. "There is no point in trying to lie to me, I will know."

"Hermione Granger, Sir." Severus looked surprised but showed no signs of recognition,

"A muggle name" Hermione nodded, "How did you get into this manor?"

"This is Malfoy Manor!?" Hermione's eyes widened in panic and then the confusion settled in again, why had they put her in a bed? Why did he not react to her name?

"Indeed."

"I was brought here last night, the snatchers brought us." Hermione was watching her old professor carefully, but he remained passive.

"What, pray tell, is a snatcher? And why would they bring you here?" Hermione's brows knitted in thought, even if she had been somehow disfigured enough that Professor Snape wouldn't recognise her there was no way that he would be unaware of the taboo and the snatchers. She wasn't sure what to tell him,

"Because this is You-Know-Who's base, the snatchers thought they would get a reward for delivering us to him. I'm sorry professor but how could you possibly not know what has been happening?" Again her professor didn't answer, Hermione sighed and continued, "We broke the taboo on You-Know-Who's name and the snatchers showed up and brought us here, my two friends were put in the dungeon and Bellatrix questioned me about an item that was found with us." While she couldn't wrap her head around the idea of the new headmaster of Hogwarts not knowing what had been going on in the world it did seem that that was the case and she wasn't going to give him any details that weren't necessary to her explanation.

"There has never been a taboo on that name and even if there was it would have been broken months ago as the Dark Lord has been neutralised. How did you get in to this manor? You certainly were not brought here by anyone. Narcissa Malfoy, the mistress of this house knew nothing about you until her elf announced that there was an unconscious girl in her drawing room. Explain yourself Miss Granger."

"I don't understand what's happening Professor. I have answered your questions honestly, and I do not understand why you don't know who I am. I thought that maybe I had been disfigured somehow and you didn't recognise me but surely you would recognise the name of a student you had taught for six years." Severus' mouth came close to dropping open in shock,

"I only took up my teaching post at the beginning of the school year in September, I have not taught anyone for that length of time." Hermione's mind whirled at the implications of that information,

"P- Professor, what's the date?"

"Today is the 31st of March."

"Of what year, Professor?" Severus sighed as if he had seen her next question coming.

"1982." Hermione gasped in shock and couldn't seem to catch her breath, her eyes filled with tears and she felt herself becoming light headed. She shook her head furiously,

"No, it can't be. You must be wrong. This is all some cruel trick Bellatrix and the Malfoys have come up with! It has to be. I can't be here now. What about the war? What's going to happen?" Severus' lips pursed at the mention of Bellatrix,

"I assume you are referring to Bellatrix Lestrange and let me assure you she has been in Azkaban prison since last November and she will not be out planning pranks on unsuspecting muggle born witches any time in the near future. The war is over and has been since last Halloween. Now, if you will not calm down I shall stun you and we will continue this conversation at a later time." He drew his wand and pointed it at her chest,

"No, Professor, please. I just want to understand." Hermione needed to tell him what had happened, she needed to explain so that he could help her make sense of it. She needed his help getting back to her own time. At least she knew she could trust him now, Remus had told her that Snape changed sides before the Potters were attacked.

~#~

Remus had left hours ago but Harry, Ron, Bill, Fleur and Luna were still sitting at the table in the kitchen of Shell Cottage; Ollivander and Griphook were in bedrooms upstairs recovering enough so that they could be moved on to another safe house.

"Snape must have used a locator spell when he told Bellatrix and the Malfoys that she must have slipped the wards; that's the first thing we should try. Does anyone know how?"

"Hermione would know." Ron grumbled and Harry sent him a glare,

"If you don't have anything helpful to say maybe you just shouldn't be saying anything. Of course Hermione would know how, but the problem with that is she's the one we need the spell for."

"Yeah? And whose fault is that? I told you not to say the bloody name but you went ahead and did it anyway, didn't you. Thinking you were big and brave for saying the name, well I wasn't telling you not to say it because I'm scared of it. There was a bloody reason I told you not to say it and now look what's happened! Hermione is Merlin knows where." Bill interrupted before Harry could respond; from the look on Harry's face he was about to say something he would regret,

"Maybe it would be best if we all got some rest, I know of a couple of locator spells which could work but I'll need a couple of hours to research them, until then there really isn't anything we can do. You've both been awake for at least 24 hours, go and sleep." Bill gave the two boys a stern look when they looked like they were going to argue with him, they both started to mutter under their breath but they did make a move towards the camp beds in the living room.

"Mr Weasley, could we ask Dobby to go and look for Hermione at Malfoy Manor? He used to work for the Malfoys; he might know where to look for her." With that Luna wandered off to her own camp bed in the living room. Fleur came around the table and took hold of one of Bill's hands, her husband sighed,

"I don't think I'll ever quite get used to her. But I can't see Harry wanting to send Dobby back to the manor, by all accounts his time there wasn't happy and it could be dangerous for him to go back. I need to look up those spells."

~#~

Severus nodded, agreeing not to stun her for the time being. "I think you had better explain yourself Miss Granger, in full." Hermione swallowed thickly and nodded, still unsure whether she could trust him but not having much of a choice.

"Last night I was on the run from You-Know-Who with two of my friends, we had just been reunited and we were discussing plans when one of them used _his_ name without realising it had been cursed. I assume the theory behind the curse was that only his opposition would dare to use the name and would therefore lead the snatchers right to the people they were hunting so that they could be taken to the ministry and dealt with accordingly. It worked and we were picked up by a group of them and brought here-"

"Ignoring, for now, the fact that I know for a fact that the Dark Lord has been defeated, if these snatchers were bringing people to the ministry why were you brought here?" Hermione got the distinct impression he was simply humouring her but not actually believing a word she was saying.

"Because of whom they thought one of my friends was."

"And who did they think he was?"

"Harry Potter." Severus' eyes widened,

"What was yesterday's date?"

"The 30th of March, Sir." Severus glared at her,

"What year?" Hermione sighed,

"1998, Sir." Severus' eyes widened and his mouth actually did drop open with shock,

"How could that be? Did you use a time turner?" Hermione shook her head, her eyes filling with tears again,

"I don't know Sir. I have no idea how I ended up here."

"Tell me the rest of your story." Hermione did so and Severus didn't speak again until she was finished,

"There is a certain spell that springs to mind. You say I was there when you were brought to the manor?" Hermione nodded, "Are you aware of any such spell?"

"No, Professor. I've never read about anything like that, I read a lot about time travel in my third year; I used a time turner to take more classes than should have fitted into the timetable, so of course I did a lot of research and the only method of travel I came across was time turners." Severus nodded,

"It is possible that I kept the success of the spell to myself, if I was indeed successful in its manufacture. If the Dark Lord did truly return he may have given the task to someone else, there is a chance that I was not trusted-" he seemed to realise what he was saying and abruptly stopped, "Yes, well it would appear that someone has been successful. If you are sure you did nothing which would result in your presence here then it is the only theory I have."

~#~

Bill turned at the sound of the kitchen door opening again, "Come to bed, my love. There is nothing more you can do tonight; you need sleep as well." Bill sighed; he had been searching for a strong and specific locator spell which would allow them to quickly find and retrieve Hermione but everything he had found that seemed promising required the blood of the person they were trying to locate.

"I need to have a plan when they wake up, you know Harry and Ron, they don't tend to make plans; they just run off with on a mission and really they just get lucky in the moment. I'm worried that if I don't have something solid to give them they'll just leave in the morning with some half baked plan to rescue Hermione from the Malfoys." Fleur lifted his hand and slipped under his arm to settle herself in his lap, pulling his head to rest on her shoulder she stroked his hair back from his face and waiting for him to return her embrace before she spoke,

"I think you need to have more faith in those boys; I do not believe they have gotten this far and accomplished all that they have without some fore planning, it just wouldn't be possible." Bill tightened his arms around her waist,

"Hermione made all their plans for them, but I suppose you're right. Maybe some of her common sense has managed to rub off on the two of them over the years. I'll be of no use to them tomorrow if I don't get some sleep."

~#~

Harry rolled onto his back when he heard a door close somewhere above him; he hadn't been able to get to sleep, he kept hearing Hermione's screams and her voice begging for the pain to stop. He knew from the quietness of the room that Ron was also awake, he didn't know whether or not Luna had managed to get to sleep or not. "We have to save her." He didn't say it to either of his friends in particular,

"But how do we do that? If Bill hasn't managed to find anything useful what are we supposed to do?"

~#~

Hermione took a deep breath as Severus lead to towards the sitting room where she would be meeting the mistress of the house. She had been unable to give him a satisfactory explanation as to why the future Severus Snape would have sent her into the past; he had not accepted her feeble reasoning that maybe he just couldn't stand seeing her being tortured for answers she didn't have. Severus had come up with a story which would explain how she had come to be in the manor and would give her a reason to continue to reside there for the immediate future; until he was able to find a way to send her back to her own time.

Severus had had a hard time convincing her of some of the aspects of the story, such as her purpose for being sent into the past. She also wasn't sure that telling the wife, sister and mother of known deatheaters that the Dark Lord would indeed return was a good idea but Severus assured her it was necessary.


	3. Chapter 3

Hermione was glad that she wasn't the one who had had to come up with her story; she never could have come up with something as guaranteed to gain her acceptance into the Malfoy household as what Severus had come up with. As they stood outside the sitting room Severus noticed that she was muttering his story to herself and her hands were trembling slightly, he sneered at her and snapped, "If you don't think you can manage to relay the story I have given you then sit quietly and look as though it is beneath you to be in Narcissa's company."

Hermione had frowned at him; she had never had that sort of high opinion of herself, she wasn't sure what that would look like on her. Then she thought of the look Malfoy would wear on his face as he walked around Hogwarts, or sat in class and she did her best to imitate that. Severus glanced down at her, noticing that she had stopped muttering, "Passable." With that he knocked on the door of the sitting room and opened the door without waiting to be invited.

"I see you have seen fit to allow our _guest_ to freely wander the halls of my home." Severus snorted,

"She is hardly wandering free, Narcissa. I have been by her side since your elf summoned me to her bedside." Narcissa turned to Hermione and frowned at the look on the girl's face,

"Well, who are you and how did you get into my house? We have a very secure and complex set of wards guarding the house; I am interested to know how a child managed to gain access, especially one who I can only assume is a muggleborn." It was Hermione's turn to snort; Narcissa didn't look much older than Hermione in this time, she couldn't have been much more than four or five years older. Severus hid a smirk at the sound, thinking that she was playing her part.

"Your guest's name is Hermione Gaunt, she was sent to us on her father's orders. She was sent away to live in a muggle environment when she was young; her father felt that it would be beneficial to the cause to let her see what they are like and how they live." Severus hoped that Hermione was listening; this wasn't something they had discussed as he hadn't paid a moment's thought into explaining her muggle clothing and was now having to improvise.

Narcissa raised an eyebrow and curled her lip at the attitude she was getting from Hermione. Severus continued before she was able to retort, "Perhaps it would be best if I explained before we all fall out." He had noticed the looks both witches were wearing and wasn't prepared to break up a duel. Narcissa nodded and motioned to them both to sit down. Once they were both seated Narcissa gave Severus an expectant look, "First things first Narcissa, I ask that you refrain from interrupting. This young lady had quite the tale and it would be best if I could get through it and explain before you ask your questions, of which I am sure you will have plenty." He paused to get an acknowledgement from the woman before he continued; Narcissa rolled her eyes but nodded her agreement to the terms,

"I assure you Madam Malfoy; you will want to hear this." Hermione said with a smirk before Severus started to speak again, Narcissa glared at the younger woman and turned her body to face Severus more directly, effectively telling Hermione that she did not wish to speak with her again. Hermione chuckled in a condescending way, something she had borrowed from her potions professor.

~#~

By the time Harry and Ron finally dragged themselves out of their cots in was well into the afternoon, they had briefly discussed a few things after they heard Bill finally go up to bed and had agreed that Bill had been right in what he said when he thought they couldn't hear him. They needed a plan; they couldn't charge into this with anything but a complete understanding of what they were getting themselves into; not with Hermione's life on the line.

They came through to the kitchen to find Bill bent over an old looking tome, clearly still researching the locator spells he had mentioned, he looked up with a start when he heard the chairs across from him scrape across the stone floor as the boys sat down "Afternoon boys, fancy some breakfast?" Ron nodded eagerly, having not eaten much at all the day before,

"I can't remember the last time I ate." Harry nodded his agreement,

"I can't remember the last time I ate something that wasn't mushrooms Hermione picked in the woods somewhere." Bill frowned at Harry's words but didn't say anything as he got up to make the boys something to eat,

"Did you sleep well?" Neither Harry nor Ron answered and Bill figured that the answer was no, they had not slept well. Bill sighed,

"I kept looking for the spells for about an hour last night before Fleur made me go to bed. I've been looking more this morning and I finally think I may have found something; it's an old elemental spell, not something I would usually even consider trying but we wouldn't be able to cast any of the others I've found, they all require the blood of the person you're looking for. It may be worth a try but you may have to consider what you're going to do if we can't find her. She would want you to carry on with your task." the two boys shared a look that clearly said that they would not be continuing their mission without Hermione, Bill sighed and changed the subject, "Remus flooed earlier, asked me to get you to return his call when you were up Harry, I think he wants to help however he can with this." Harry nodded,

"I'll do it after breakfast." He finished quickly, not having much of an appetite, and moved over to the hearth to make the floo call.

~#~

"We can't just leave Pettigrew bound forever, we need to call the Dark Lord and explain what has happened. Bella, we needn't tell him we actually had Potter. We can just say we had someone we thought might have been Potter, his mudblood and the Weasley boy but we were not convinced enough to call him. We can tell him that by the time they escaped we were sure it wasn't Potter and there was no need for his presence until we realised we couldn't stop Pettigrew's hand without assistance." Bellatrix looked like she was considering her sister's words before her face twisted,

"He would know we are lying; he is a legilimens. He would be able to read the truth on any of our minds without even an ounce of effort. No, we need to find a way of getting to Potter again." Narcissa sighed and moved away from her pacing sister, back over to where her family sat waiting for another outburst.

"Why would Potter even need to be mentioned? Could we not just tell Our Lord that the hand started to malfunction on its own?" Draco looked like he was going to continue to speak but Lucius laid a hand on his shoulder to stop him from saying more, Bellatrix swung around to face her nephew,

"You want to tell the Dark Lord that the hand he crafted for Pettigrew started to strangle him of its own accord? Tell him that his spell work is lacking? Do you have a death wish boy?" Bellatrix let out a deranged sounding laugh at the thought and Draco's cheeks coloured,

"It was just a suggestion." He muttered but Bella heard him and spun on him with her wand aimed between his eyes,

"Keep your suggestions to yourself in future, or do I have to show you what happens to children who misbehave?" Draco swallowed thickly and shifted closer to his parents who were both glaring at Bellatrix,

"I ask you not to threaten my son in our home Bellatrix." She made a disparaging noise and stormed from the room.

~#~

"As I said, your guest's name is Hermione Gaunt, do you recognise the name?" Narcissa shook her head, "I'm sure that was his reason for giving her his mother's name over his father's much more recognisable one. You see her father sent her to us with a mission which will greatly help his cause in the future. The fight is not done Narcissa, what Miss Gaunt has been able to tell me has confirmed my suspicions that he will be back. Hermione Gaunt is the daughter of Tom Riddle and an undisclosed pureblood witch. The Dark Lord has sent her to us from the year 1998 where he is perilously close to a more permanent demise than the one suffered in October. It is the belief of our Lord that if the Potter boy is brought into a household such as the Malfoy household and is raised as if he were a pureblood he will quickly come around to our way of thinking and understand why the Dark Lord's regime is necessary to the future of the wizarding world.

"The spell which sent Miss Gaunt to us was created by me some time in the future; it was cast by my future self in the drawing room of Malfoy Manor, at Our Lord's command. This is why Miss Gaunt's arrival did not set off the wards. We are to aid her in anything she needs until her mission is complete and our side is victorious in the quest for a pure world." Narcissa's eyes were wide with shock by the time Severus stopped talking,

"But she can't possibly be _his_ child. She looks nothing like him for one thing, and for another he would have told someone if he'd had a child; Bellatrix or Lucius, they have always been his favourites yet they know nothing about a child." Hermione put on her best Malfoy sneer,

"Why would he trust any of you with something as important as the knowledge of his only child?" Narcissa bristled as Hermione had known she would,

"Lucius and Bellatrix were trusted with looking after a number of important things for the Dark Lord; items which they are both still guarding to this day, despite the Dark Lord's defeat!" Hermione stood and towered over Narcissa, feeling a certain amount of triumph; the witch had just disclosed an important piece of information without knowing it,

"He was not defeated. He will be back and you and your husband will be sorry that you ever dared to claim you were under the influence of the curse." Severus stood and placed a hand on Hermione's arm, guiding her back into her seat.

~#~

Harry sat back down at the kitchen table after ending the floo call with Remus, "He's going to try and come through a little later, once Tonks has agreed that she needs to sleep for more than an hour. Apparently she's restless and wants to come and join the search looking for Hermione." Ron's eyes snapped up to Harry's face,

"Remus told her we're here?" Harry nodded with a small smile,

"I imagine it would have been hard not to let her know we're here considering I agreed to be Teddy's Godfather." A look of comprehension dawned on Ron,

"Oh yeah, I didn't think about that last night."

"Neither did I, but she's only just had a baby; she isn't likely to be storming over here and demanding we stay and Remus understands that no one else can know so I doubt he'll let her tell everyone else that we're here either, at least not until we're gone again." Ron nodded,

"So what are we going to do? Did you ask about the locator that Bill found?"

"He said not to doubt the old elemental spells so much and we had nothing to lose by trying it. He did say that it might be worth trying a couple of other spells as well though." Ron nodded,

"That makes sense." He agreed with a groan, "I was really hoping it would be enough to just do that one but now we have to read and find more spells." Harry grinned, in spite of himself, at his friends' complete reluctance to do anything of an academic nature. "Better get started though I suppose. We need Hermione back so we can get back to- you know." Bill had looked up, hoping his younger brother would let something slip about what the three of them had been doing.

The three of them each pulled a big, old looking book towards them and started reading with a sigh each.

~#~

It seemed that Narcissa was finally willing to consider believing that the story Severus and Hermione were telling her was the truth, "I suppose I must call Lucius home at once, he needs to be told what is happening, especially if we are expected to keep a houseguest for an extended period. Lucius does have business to conduct and much of his meetings take place here in the manor. If you will excuse me, I have a floo call to make." Severus stood as Narcissa left the room to find a more private hearth to conduct her call from.

"Well that went well." Hermione said with a small sigh, she couldn't believe how easy it had been to play a snobbish pureblood,

"You did well Miss Gaunt. However, there is no need for celebration yet; you still have Lucius to convince and as he knows much more about the Dark Lord he is likely to be a lot more difficult to convince of your story." Hermione nodded and her eyes widened, getting an idea of how she could get him to believe her.

After a few minutes Narcissa swept back into the room and announced that Lucius would be back in less than an hour. She called Dobby and another house elf and told them to prepare for the master's return. Hermione snorted again, "It's funny that you refer to him as 'the master' when he is really nothing more than my father's servant." Severus cut a sharp look at her and her mocking smile was swept from her face. He was clearly worried that she was taking her role a little too seriously, he did not wish for Hermione to alienate Narcissa completely. In fact if it was up to him they would become much friendlier, he felt that Narcissa needed a companion other than her young son.

**It's been a while since I updated, too long really but real life things have gotten in the way.. I know this isn't the best chapter and it might seem a little rushed and short but I feel like its stopped in quite a natural place for the next chapter to pick up from. **

**I've been having a little trouble with the Harry and Ron side of the story, so I'm thinking that those sections might phase out, unless people like them and would like them to continue. **

**Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed.. Lemme know if you have any criticisms or suggestions in a review. **


	4. Chapter 4

Hermione and Severus were left alone again as Narcissa went off to prepare for her husband's return, apparently there were things that she didn't trust the house elves to do. Severus looked down at Hermione and noticed her frown and set up some privacy charms before turning to her and asking, "What's the matter Miss Gaunt?"

"Hmm? Oh, well, there was something that Madam Malfoy mentioned that I hadn't considered before and I'm not sure how to address the issue." She glanced up and saw that he was waiting for her to continue, "Well she pointed out that I don't look anything like Tom Riddle, and I certainly don't resemble any of the Gaunt family, from what I've heard." She looked up at him again, and saw that he was wearing a smirk,

"You seem to be quite concerned by this issue."

"Well, I think it will be difficult to convince a man like Lucius Malfoy that I am indeed the child of his master if I can't even explain why I look nothing like the man or any of his relations." Hermione started to get frustrated at the man's continuing smirk, "I suppose you've already thought of a solution. If it involves surgery you can just forget it!" Severus' smirk threatened to turn into a smile at her grumbling,

"It is as if, Miss Gaunt, you have forgotten that you are a witch and capable of almost any feat you can think of; given the right incantation of course. It will be simple to explain away your appearance; the Dark Lord is known by his closest followers to be a paranoid man, it would stand to reason that if he was going to hide a child in the muggle world he would change everything about the child in order to conceal it most effectively. We will simply tell Lucius that you have had glamour charms set upon you by the Dark Lord himself, which will no break other than by his own wand or when you come of age."

"But I'm already of age, the charms would have broken." Severus rolled his eyes, unable to believe his future self would have sent someone incapable of thought back for his younger self to deal with.

"We will lie, Miss Gaunt." The urge to drop her head into her hands was getting stronger with every second this conversation went on.

"Will they believe that he would send someone who is not even of age to do something so important? Surely he would want someone who can at least do magic without the ministry interfering."

"You are from the future, the ministry will have no record of you yet; there would be no trace on your magic."

"Not that far in the future. You said its 1982; I've already had my second birthday here." Hermione was impressed that her professor had an answer for everything; she didn't want to irritate him by poking holes in all of his ideas and plans but she couldn't help but push to see if she could find something he wouldn't be able to explain away.

"No matter, the Dark Lord would not have allowed the ministry to have any record of you. There would have been no point in sending you into a life that he hated the very idea of if the ministry would be able to find you at your first bout of accidental magic. He had allies within the ministry; the records could have been altered if they needed to be.

Severus looked at the clock on the mantel, "Do you have any thoughts of how you will convince Lucius that you are in actuality the daughter of his master?" Hermione hesitated,

"I did have a thought but I'm not sure how well it would work, if at all." Severus remained quiet; prompting her to share her idea, "What if I offer to take a dose of veritaserum?" He opened his mouth to argue but she didn't give him a chance to interrupt, "Hear me out first, please. Of course I will attempt to convince Mr Malfoy of our story but if he is unconvinced by me, which I don't doubt he will be I will offer to retell the story and answer some questions under the influence of the potion and he will have no choice but to believe us."

"You seem to be forgetting that while he will be forced to believe what you tell him, you will be forced to tell him the truth." It was Hermione's turn to smirk,

"Have you forgotten your earlier advice to me?"Hermione's eyes took on a sparkle that reminded him of Albus Dumbledore, "We are capable of almost any feat we can think of; this is the feat that I have thought of and I have an idea of how to achieve it. I will lie." Severus shook his head,

"It is not possible Miss Gaunt."

"I don't believe that. I think with a little teamwork we can do it, and I have an idea how." Hermione explained the other half of her plan to her old potions professor and almost with every word she said he grew more convinced that she was not as intelligent as he had hoped; what she was suggesting was insane.

~#~

Ron threw himself onto the sofa with a disgusted huff, "Why do none of these work? If they are bogus spell then why are they still around?" Harry sighed and sat in one of the armchairs,

"They do work; we were able to locate Remus no problem. It must just be that where ever Hermione is she can't be located by a spell."

"So what are we meant to do? How are we supposed to get her back if we can't even bloody find her?" Harry sat with his elbows braced on his knees and his hands scrubbed down his face,

"I think we might have to go back to Malfoy Manor and see what we can see."

"I can't let you do that, Harry. Get back to whatever it is the three of you have been off doing and leave Hermione to the Order, everyone will want to help her and we're all a lot more organised and experienced than the two of you. You don't have to do everything yourself." Harry nodded and stood,

"I need to speak to the goblin."

~#~

Hermione had managed to convince Severus to at least give her idea a chance and they had been trying it for ten minutes, there had been some improvement and it looked like the idea had some merit. Severus looked at the clock again and scowled; their hour was up. Sure enough almost as soon as Severus removed his privacy charms Dobby appeared in the room, "Master Malfoy has arrived and has requested you both in his study." Severus nodded and dismissed the elf, clearly knowing where he was going; she reached out and squeezed his arm,

"It will work Professor. It's all we've got, it has to. You never know, just the offer to take the potion might be enough to convince him." Severus nodded, still with a slightly grim look on his face. It was a look that Lucius was unlikely to notice; Severus often looked grim in the man's presence.

~#~

Lucius was sitting behind his desk as Severus closed the door behind himself and Hermione, "Lucius, how was your trip?"

"Uneventful, clearly the same can't be said for you and Narcissa's time here while I was away. I assume you are the Miss Gaunt my wife has told me about, I must say you have no endeared yourself to her." Hermione raised an eyebrow at him but Severus stopped her from speaking with a look, "Well, why don't you both sit down and we shall see if we can get to the bottom of this." Hermione and Severus both sat in the chairs opposite Lucius and waited for him to speak again, "Now, my wife has told me the story as Severus related it to her but I would like to hear it from you Miss Gaunt, if you wouldn't mind." Hermione nodded,

"Of course, Mr Malfoy." She injected a bit more respect into her voice than she had used when she'd spoken to Narcissa and Severus was glad.

Hermione told their story to Lucius and included all of the details that they had agreed on but offering nothing more, Severus was carefully watching Lucius to see whether his old friend believed their tale but it was clear to him that Lucius was not likely to believe her. Severus managed to hold back his sigh as Hermione ended her speech and waited for Lucius' response to it, "Well I must say, that is a most interesting story, but I am convinced it is just that; a story concocted in order to gain my wife and I's trust, though to what end I am not sure."

"I assure you Lucius; I have confirmed everything that Miss Gaunt has told you."

"Shame on you Severus, surely you of all people would know that people lie." Severus' cheeks coloured a touch and he remained silent, "I will need some sort of proof of your story, I am assuming that is possible Miss." Hermione's eyes narrowed at the way the blonde addressed her,

"Would it help your acceptance of my story if I related it again under veritaserum? Surely then you would be able to see that I am telling the truth." She drew a vial out of her pocket, it was filled with a clear liquid which Lucius assumed she would be passing off as the truth potion she mentioned, "I came prepared; my father warned me that it may be difficult to convince you." Lucius smiled a mocking smile,

"Forgive me but surely you can see why I would be wary to believe that the Dark Lord has a child which no one knows anything about and has sent that child back from the future. I will allow you to take veritaserum and answer a few of my questions," Hermione unstopped her vial, "But, you will not be taking that. You will be taking some of my supply." The cork was put back into the vial and a nod from the girl,

"Of course, you don't believe that I am who I say so why would you believe this potion is what I say."

Lucius went to a locked cabinet at the side of the room and they heard the sound of bottles being moved around until he pulled one out with a triumphant noise, "Found it. Shall I put it in some tea for you Miss? Or will you take it straight from the dropper?"

"Whichever you would prefer Mister." Lucius approached with the vial and Severus' eyes narrowed,

"That is not one of mine Lucius, who have you had brewing for you?" Lucius regarded his friend with a smile,

"This is from before you had joined our ranks as potioneer Severus, forgive me for not using yours but you seem to be quite invested in this girl's story."

"Not that my feelings towards the situation would have an effect on the potion but I will forgive you your dramatics." Severus took the time that Lucius was administering the potion to Hermione to slip his wand into his hand; Lucius would be too focused on Hermione to pay any attention to what Severus was doing.

Once the slightly dazed look of someone under the influence of veritaserum came into effect Severus silently cast the spell they had discussed. They had noticed that whilst under the veritaserum first there was no way of telling whether the spell had taken effect. Severus held his breath as Lucius asked the first question,

"What is your name?"

"Hermione Gaunt." Severus let his breath out in an almost silent exhalation of relief, it was working,

"And how did you come to be in this house Miss Gaunt." Severus was pleased that Lucius was convinced enough to start calling her by the name they had decided on,

"I was in the manor before I was sent back in time by one of my father's followers from the year 1998. I arrived this morning and was discovered and attended to by a house elf, before your wife was informed of my arrival."

"Who is your father?"

"His name is Tom Marvolo Riddle, also known by the alias Lord Voldemort."

"Why does no one know of your existence?"

"My father is not a trusting man and wanted to be sure that when the time came I would be ready to join his cause, in order for me to truly understand it he sent me to a muggle orphanage when I was just a year old."

"Why have you been sent here?"

"My father has become aware of a threat to his life, a threat which will result in his death."

"He is already dead." Hermione made her eyes blaze, even through the haze of the veritaserum and Severus' spell,

"That is not true. He might appear to have been defeated but he is out here recuperating and he will be back."

"Very well, we will begin preparations. Why is there no record of you?

"Father has his ways of eliminating any information he doesn't want others to find."

"Why don't you resemble the Dark Lord or his family?"

"My father thought it would be best that there not be any connection to him, he has placed a number of glamour charms on me which can only be broken by his wand or when I come of age."

"You are not even of age yet?"

"I will turn seventeen tomorrow, on the first of April." Both men noticed the dazed look starting to leave her eyes,

"It's wearing off; you probably have time for two more Lucius." The blonde nodded,

"How did you get here?"

"I was sent by my father-"

"No, I meant what was the method used to send you here."

"A spell, I never heard it and didn't recognise it. I've never read about a spell like that before, the only method I know of are time turners but they can only go back days at the most. It was an incredible bit of spell work." The dazed look had left her completely while she spoke and Severus lifted his spell, assuming that Lucius would also have noticed and stopped his questions.

"Who cast it?"

"Professor Snape." There must have still been enough of the potion in her system to have an effect and without his interference she was forced to tell the truth.

Lucius turned to his dark friend, "Well, well Severus, keeping that part to yourself were you? You told the Dark Lord that you'd been consistently unsuccessful in the creation of that spell, did you lie to Our Lord?" Severus stiffened under the accusation,

"I did not, Lucius. I have never been successful with any of the methods that I tried in order to create a spell which would allow time travel, as far as I am concerned it isn't possible. Clearly, however, I am wrong. Either I or someone else will manage it at some point in the next twenty odd years. Hermione was watching the exchange with wide eyes; Severus had asked her not to reveal that it was him who sent her through time and she had failed to do that, now he would be under unnecessary scrutiny from the man.

"Miss Gaunt, welcome to Malfoy Manor. I will inform Narcissa that you will indeed be staying here for the foreseeable future. You will, of course, have our help if ever you should need it. Now that we have proven that your story is the truth we will not ask you to reveal any more of your task, I know the rules of time travel and that you are unable to tell us what the future holds for us in case we attempt to change it. We must keep the timeline intact, after all." Lucius smiled engagingly at Hermione and she couldn't help but notice how it changed the man from an aristocratic snob into quite a remarkably handsome man, but she did not return his smile,

"My plan is to change the timeline so completely that it does not resemble the one I have live through for the last seventeen years. You can ask all the questions you'd like to, just don't expect my answers to come true by the time I'm done here." The look on Hermione's was one that would have convinced Lucius of her parentage without the veritaserum exercise. Severus noticed the same look as Lucius had but it had a distinctly different effect on him, where it raised Lucius' respect in the girl it had Severus resisting a shudder, oh yes; this girl was definitely looking to change a few things.

"Very well Miss Gaunt. I'm sure you must be tired from your day, I will allow you to retire while I go and inform my wife of what has occurred and what is happening." Severus stood as Lucius left the room and motioned for Hermione to follow him, he lead her back to the room she'd been in that morning and set up the privacy charms again.

"Well, now that you have convinced the Malfoys to keep you what do you plan to do next? Run off to Dumbledore?" Hermione's eyes narrowed,

"No, I'm not going to involve him in any of this. Most of the things I plan to change could have been prevented by him the first time around if he hadn't been acting in his own best interests. I won't be giving him the opportunity to stop me from carrying out my plans." She caught the way Severus was looking at her and frowned, "You're going to tell him, aren't you?" Severus gave her a considering look,

"I don't think so. I am curious about what you plan to do. What's next?" Hermione's lips quirked up at the corners,

"I'm going to go and find Harry Potter, although it shouldn't be difficult as I know the address where Dumbledore left him after his parents were killed. I'll be paying them a visit tomorrow, should you care to join me." Severus nodded but left the room without saying anything more.

**AN: much shorter wait for an update this time.. again, not a very long chapter and I'm not sure that much really happened, I didn't realise how much of it was going to just be solid dialogue until I read through again when I'd finished writing.. sorry about that; I'm not the best at writing conversations. **

**Thanks to everyone who has read and reviewed **** it means a lot to hear from you. As always, let me know if there's anything you think could be better. I have also enjoyed reading some of the theories coming out about where the story is going so feel free to share those if you have any thoughts. **


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